February 29, 2000

• There is nothing to fear

• Vulnerability is a sign of openness

All of you share in this gathering of spiritual presence. You grow and are nurtured by your spirit guides and also by the trust and compassion that exist between you. It is a powerful group you have. It is a group not built by numbers, but it is built through communication, and communication through an extraordinary number of years. You provide an environment for each of you to share, to grow, being together in times of great joy and sadness. Each of you supports one another. Each of you listens to one another. You share prayers for one another as well as for many who are not in this group. Your efforts and attitudes complement those spiritual efforts of your guides who are assembled with you.

God illuminates your efforts as well as ours. There is a provision from God that enables all souls, all spiritual entities in this collective, to work for one another. That is a rare opportunity for all human beings. How often individuals see one another and communicate to one another and yet have no knowledge of one another! That communication is so often superficial, limited, filled with defenses, occasioned by a sense of personal vulnerability. In the end, because nothing is really given to the relationships, what is gained is limited. This assembly of spirits contains the potential for enormous growth, profound insights, and significant service. All that is required for this environment is present.

Imagine the potential for spreading good, for acting out in love, when such an environment is broadened far beyond what you see visibly at this moment. Each of you has the capacity to give to others, but to truly give you must be willing to be vulnerable. You cannot exercise compassion without having experienced pain. You cannot experience pain without being vulnerable. Vulnerability in the end is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of openness. And to the extent that individuals refuse to be open, they close the opportunities that vulnerability provides.

There are many who refuse to let down their guard, so to speak. That refusal is a conscious refusal motivated by fear. One acts with defensiveness when one senses being attacked. Without a sense of being attacked, there is no need to be defensive. It is easy to say “be vulnerable, don’t be defensive.” It is a far different matter to change one’s perspective governed by fear of something from the outside, but that is what each of you is being asked to do. You’re being asked to eliminate fear from your lives. Ultimately there is nothing to fear. One can say “oh, the fear of one’s passing, the fear of one’s death, the fear of pain—those are valuable, worthy fears,” but they are not. They are very human reactions, but in the overall view, they are really insignificant.

Each of you must find ways of adjusting the way you live so that there is no room for fear. Without fear, there is no defensiveness. Without defenses, you are open, you become vulnerable. That vulnerability, that openness, nurtures your capacity for compassion, for service to others, for spiritual growth. You do not strengthen yourselves spiritually by living in fear. You do not strengthen yourselves by living with anxiety or jealousy. All of these are negative influences which tend to diminish the brilliance that is the potential of all human life. Get rid of fear and you live fully.

There is always the sense of self-doubt, of wondering whether you are up to the task at hand. But those questions are very different from living a life of fear, because fear strikes at the whole sense of self-value, self-worth, personal identity. You can have doubts about whether to take action “A” instead of “B” and that can be constructive, but that is not fear. Having those doubts is not debilitating, but when those doubts become internalized and turn into fear, the result is inaction—it is a lack of commitment, it is the absence of a sense of purpose or mission. You will never find an individual reflective of God’s presence who lives in a state of constant fear.

How do you eliminate fear if it is to be really disposed of? You must put your daily activities, your personal relationships, your professional relationships within a context that is encompassed by your awareness of the true nature of God—a God who is not judgmental, a God who is not punitive—rather a God who is patient, a God who represents the ideals of compassion, of love. When you see yourselves connecting to your image of a positive God, a God who benefits all life, that which causes fear is greatly reduced in significance. In time, that which you fear the most becomes much more manageable and does not control your lives. At that point, your lives truly enter a level of spiritual development far beyond your imagination to perceive.

Your lives are important. Every life is important. Every relationship is important. Everything that has been created has importance whether created by God through nature or through the efforts of humankind. There is nothing that has been created that is insignificant. When you experience fear, you also experience an accompanied belief in your own unimportance. You lessen the dignity of your own lives. You deny the sacredness of your mission, the sacredness of your purpose in life as you understand it at this moment. When you experience fear you are saying to God, “I’m not important. I’m inconsequential. I’m helpless. I’m a victim. I have become the object instead of the subject.” That’s what fear acknowledges.

Your lives are important because they are gifts. Each of you, all of humanity, is important, for you are a gift. You can choose to apply the gift of life to the benefit of others, or you can choose that gift to be dedicated to your own benefit. Your gifts of respect for life should carry far beyond respect for other animals, other people, plants, inanimate objects. You must fully respect yourselves. You must fully honor your own value. This is not selfish. It is not destructive of relationships. On the contrary, a relationship where both parties feel good about themselves turns into a relationship built on trust and mutual respect and love. If one party does not fully acknowledge one’s own value, that individual is incapable of meaningfully acknowledging the value of another person, for there is no way that an individual will get to know anyone else better than himself or herself.

Individuals can delude themselves and not face reality. That is always a danger, but if you truly value your own importance as a created entity of God, then you will quickly provide the same valuation of others. There will be no need for fear because your relationships will be governed by trust. Your relationships will be governed by respect. That does not mean agreement but, nevertheless, respect and trust. Living a life that is not characterized as defensive enables you to reach others in a meaningful context that will enhance the lives of each individual.

We are helpful in your lives because you do not build walls that separate us. You are willing to accept the fact that we exist, although you cannot see us or touch us or hear us easily. We are nevertheless here. We are not defensive; we are open. We, your guides, experience what it means to be vulnerable because we experience what it means to be open, to be receptive. It is that openness, that receptivity, that provides the pathway for our spiritual illumination from God’s presence.

Break down the fear. Find ways of being open. Allow yourselves the gift of vulnerability. You will be empowered as a result in ways beyond your imagination, in ways that enhance others, in ways that contribute to the collective good of all. You will contribute to others’ realization of their own worth. That in turn will strengthen others, giving them courage to be vulnerable, to be open to God, to be open to the needs of others, not just the presence of God.

Recognizing God’s presence in itself does not lead to spiritual growth. What does lead to this growth is what you do with your awareness. Be willing to put your awareness into practice. Be willing to share when that is appropriate. Be willing to reach out when that is appropriate. Be willing to just listen when that is appropriate. The good which will result from this accumulated openness in society will reach enormous proportions. Good begets good just as evil begets evil. Defensiveness builds defensiveness. Jealousy creates jealousy. Feeling pain can lead to inflicting pain, but acting compassionately promotes compassion. Listening promotes others to listen. Acting in love promotes the actions of love by others.

It really does begin with you. It is you who must take the initial steps, but the benefits of such steps are undeniable. We see the lights that come forward from such efforts. You then radiate great brilliance and warmth, and that light creates warmth and light in the distant corners of existence.

What a blessing you share together, knowing what you know, learning what you learn! Take those blessings and turn them into action. Look for opportunities when you are God’s hands. Reflect God’s love, reflect God’s light, reflect God’s compassion, reflect God’s vulnerability just as we reflect that vulnerability., and revel in the warmth that you experience as you allow God’s illumination to penetrate an open soul!

We bless you in the spirit of that illumination now and always.

Amen.